Characterization of Nasaru, Gada Uku and Gwaram Clays in Bauchi State

Most of the refractory raw materials being used in Nigeria are imported from America, Asia, China, and some other countries. Due to the large deposit of clay available in Bauchi state that are used in the production of locally made pot, there are limited literatures on the study of Bauchi state clays. This work investigated three different clays in Bauchi state to determine their potentials as furnace lining. Samples were collected from three different places in Bauchi State - Gada uku, Nasaru and Gwaram. Their chemical compositions were determined using X- ray fluorescence spectrophotometer. Tests of Crushing strength, linear shrinkage, apparent porosity, bulk density, refractoriness was carried out on each sample. The results obtained showed that all the three clays have refractoriness of 13000C. Linear shrinkage for Gwaram is 10.36% while those of Gada uku and Nasaru are 10.71% and 7.86% respectively. Apparently porosity for Gwaram, Gada uku and Nasaru are 22.62%, 23.10% and 20.45%. Physical, thermal and mechanical tests showed that the clays have cold crushing strength of 298.7 kg/cm2 and 255.35 kg/cm2 for Gwaram and Gada uku while that of Nasaru is 230.0 kg/cm2.